In March of 1963, The Academy of Applied Science, Incorporated was chartered as a non-profit, tax-exempt, scientific and educational corporation under the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Its founders, under the leadership of Robert H. Rines, President of the Academy, were concerned with the modern problems of technological innovation, its impact on society, and the plight of the inventor, researcher and entrepreneur in the innovative process. Aspects of the latter include inadequate recognition, less than competent legal and other societal regulation, and inadequate protection under patent and related laws. Interest in applied science, in general, and the nurturing of the climate for the risks of innovation balanced with the public interest were not keeping up with the needs of the country.

ACTIVITIES
The Academy launched several for the achievement of its goals. One of the most successful, the Interdisciplinary Conferences, are periodic gatherings of authorities from varied disciplines to exchange information and debate issues of concern to the Academy and the nation.

The Awards Programs have been a basis of the Academy's objective to recognize innovative talent. Singled out and honored with the Academy Medal of Honor have been several great inventors, entrepreneurs, and organizations that have brought fourth remarkable innovations ranging from electronics to power steering and cryosurgery.

Lecture Programs have been provided to the communities, educational institutions, and science museums. Research has been encouraged by the Academy and its members in several areas. Publications include reports on Academy conferences, monographs and articles on research, books, and films. Museum Support is another method the Academy uses to stimulate interest.

The Junior Science and Humanities Symposia and the Research and Engineering Apprenticeship Program are efforts to stimulate science-oriented high-school youth to pursue careers in science and engineering.

In 1973, the Academy was one of the sponsors of a new law center and school in Concord, NH. The Franklin Pierce Law Center is fully accredited by the American Bar Association.

The work of President Roosevelt's National Inventors Council--to function as a liaison between inventors and government agencies--continues through the sponsorship of the Academy and today enjoys a much broader charter.

ACADEMY'S FIRST WOMAN MEMBER
When the Academy was formed in 1963 by a group of inventors, patent attorneys and businessmen interested in innovation, they realize they had in their midst a lady who, through her careful accurate work, creative suggestions and unusual ability to bring complementary people together, had done much to help the inventor and the innovator. The group lost no time inviting Mrs.. Elizabeth Rice O'Keefe to become its first woman member.

She was at the top of her profession in the reporting of legal proceedings and was in great demand by the most prestigious law firms. She was also active in Rhode Island civic affairs.

The officers of the Academy established a fund making possible an annual award honoring Elizabeth O'Keefe. Given with the purpose of helping students defray advanced education expenses, the award is presented annually to seven high school seniors who deliver winning science papers at the Academy-administered National Junior Science and Humanities Symposia.

DAVIS WORKSHOP DONATED TO
MUSEUM OF TRANSPORTATION
A part of the Academy's inheritance from the estate of Francis Wright Davis was h is personal workshop used to make the first models of his original Power Steering Unit and other inventions. The shop was donated by the Academy to the Museum of Transportation in Boston, where it will be set up as a working shop, displaying the perfect one-man shop of yesterday's tinkerer.

UNDERWATER STUDIES AT LOCH NESS
Members of the Academy, in consort with other investigators and institutions, have engaged in part-time studies of the underwater wonders of Scotland's Loch Ness with rewarding results in finding and tracking underwater life (including large animate objects and new small creatures), finding geological and man-made structures, developing new instrumentation, and in learning to blend scientists of varied disciplines into a cooperative team for underwater exploration and analysis.